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Posts published by Kenneth Plutnicki

Shortstop Edgar Renteria’s three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning broke a 0-0 tie and sent San Francisco on its way to a 3-1 victory over the Texas Rangers in Game 5 on Monday night, giving the Giants their first World Series title since 1954 and their first in California.

Renteria, who also had a Series-winning hit for the Florida Marlins in 1997, was named the most valuable player of this series. Hitting near the bottom of the order, Renteria had the home run on Monday; was 3 for 4 in Game 4, 2 for 4 with a home run and three runs batted in in Game 2; and 1 for 3 in Game 1.

Tim Lincecum, who was also the winner in Game 1, was the winning pitcher. He allowed 3 hits and struck out 10 in eight innings. The only run he allowed was a solo home run by Nelson Cruz in the bottom of the seventh.

The pitching duel that most baseball fans expected in Game 1 materialized, as the game was scoreless through six innings. Cliff Lee (0-2), the postseason phenom who was brought back to earth by Giants hitters, started for the Rangers, and allowed six hits and three runs in seven innings. He had six strikeouts and did not allow a walk.

The Texas Rangers scored four runs in the fifth inning to break a 1-1 tie and went on to beat the Yankees, 6-1, in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Friday night. The Rangers won the series, four games to two, and advanced to their first World Series. The franchise began play in 1961 as the Washington Senators.

Rangers center field Josh Hamilton, who hit four home runs and had seven runs batted in over the six games, was named the series’ most valuable player.

The Rangers will play the Philadelphia Phillies or the San Francisco Giants, who will play their own Game 6 on Saturday. The Giants lead that series, three games to two.

Colby Lewis, who also won Game 2, allowed three hits and one run in eight innings. He struck out seven in a 102-pitch gem. The losing pitcher, as in Game 2, was Phil Hughes, who allowed four runs and four hits in four and two-thirds innings.

With the score, 1-1, the bottom of the fifth inning started innocently enough. Mitch Moreland hit an infield single, and two groundouts gave the Rangers a man on third with two out. The Yankees then intentionally walked Hamilton to pitch to designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero, whose groundout in the first inning gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead. This time Guerrero doubled, driving in Moreland and Hamilton, giving the Rangers a 3-1 lead. David Robertson replaced Hughes, and Nelson Cruz hit a two-run homer to center, making it 5-1.

The Yankees’ only run, in the top of the fifth inning, should not have come when it did. Alex Rodriguez led off with a double and took third on Lance Berkman’s long fly to center. He scored on a wild pitch. But replays showed that Nick Swisher was actually hit by the pitch — it bounced in the dirt, hit his shin, changed direction, and scooted past catcher Bengie Molina. Swisher, who was also hit in Game 4 but was not awarded first base, continued to bat and grounded out to the pitcher. The next batter, Jorge Posada, doubled to right.

Barton Silverman/The New York TimesElvis Andrus scored the first run for the Texas Rangers in Game 2.

The Yankees did not get a quality performance from their starting pitcher for the second straight game, and lost, 7-2, to the Texas Rangers on Saturday in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series in Arlington, Tex.

The Yankees, who bailed out their ace left-hander, C. C. Sabathia, by rallying from a 5-0 deficit to win Game 1, 6-5, could not salvage the start by Phil Hughes, who allowed 10 hits and 7 runs in four-plus innings. Hughes said his fastball was flat and his curveball was up. He did not blame the Yankees’ long layoff between series for his ineffectiveness.

The Yankees will now hand the ball to Andy Pettitte as the series shifts to Yankee Stadium for three games starting Monday. The Rangers will pitch their ace, Cliff Lee, in Game 3. Lee has gone 6-0 in his first seven career postseason starts, and his team has won all seven of those games.

The platoon outfielder David Murphy was 2 for 3 with two runs batted in for Texas. He hit a home run in the second inning, giving the Rangers a 2-0 lead. He doubled in the third inning, giving the Rangers a 4-0 lead. When the next batter, Bengie Molina, doubled, Texas had a 5-0 lead.

But the Yankees could not come back from that deficit, as they did on Friday.

The Rangers tacked on two runs in the fifth, on a double by Nelson Cruz, a triple by Ian Kinsler and a single by Mitch Moreland, to make the score, 7-1. Robinson Cano hit a long home run in the Yankees’ sixth to produce the final score.

In a battle between American League most valuable player candidates, Cano was 2 for 5 with a double and the home run, and the Rangers’ Josh Hamilton was walked four times and struck out in his only official at-bat.

Colby Lewis, a right-handed starter, got the win for Texas. He allowed six hits and two runs in five and two-thirds innings.

The Yankees scored one run in the seventh inning and five runs in the eighth to overcome a 5-0 deficit and beat the Texas Rangers, 6-5, on Friday night in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series in Arlington, Tex.

Second baseman Robinson Cano was 3 for 4 with two runs batted in and hit a solo home run in the seventh inning.

The Rangers’ C. J. Wilson was terrific through seven innings, but ran into trouble in the eighth.

The Yankees’ first seven batters reached base in the inning. The rally started when the speedy outfielder Brett Gardner dived to beat out a ground ball hit to the right of first baseman Jorge Cantu. Wilson was covering, but Gardner beat him to the bag.

Derek Jeter then hit one of his two doubles to left, scoring Gardner from first. That made it 5-2. Darren Oliver relieved Wilson, but walked Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira on 3-2 counts to load the bases. Darren O’Day (0-1) came in and allowed a two-run single to Alex Rodriguz, making the score, 5-4. Robinson Cano singled in the tying run, and designated hitter Marcus Thames’s single made it 6-5. The first out of the inning, Jorge Posada’s fly to right field, was caught right in front of the wall.

In all, the Yankees faced five pitchers in the eighth inning. The first four, including Wilson, could not get an out.

“It’s a huge win,” said Manager Joe Girardi, who pointed out that the rally started on Gardner’s “hustle play.”

The Yankees’ comeback salvaged a rough start by their ace, C. C. Sabathia, who was behind, 3-0, after the Rangers’ first three batters. Elvis Andrus walked, Michael Young singled, and Josh Hamilton homered to right field on an 0-2 hanging curve. The Rangers added two more in the fourth.

Dustin Moseley picked up the victory by striking out four batters in the scoreless sixth and seventh innings. Kerry Wood pitched the eighth and Mariano Rivera allowed a single and a sacrifice in the ninth before he struck out Young and got Hamilton on a weak grounder to third.

Andy Pettitte pitched seven strong innings as the Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-2, on Thursday night in Game 2 of their American League division series.

Designated hitter Lance Berkman, in his first postseason start as a Yankee, was 2 for 4 with two runs batted in. His long home run to left-center field gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead in the fifth, and his double gave them a 3-2 lead in the seventh. He scored later in the inning on Derek Jeter’s single. (Twins second baseman Orlando Hudson had tied the score, 2-2, with a long home run to left field in the bottom of the sixth.)

Kerry Wood pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth, and Mariano Rivera picked up his second save of the series after facing three batters in the ninth.

Game 3 is scheduled for Saturday night at Yankee Stadium, where Phil Hughes (18-8, 4.19 earned run average in the regular season) will face the Twins left-hander Brian Duensing (10-3, 2.62).

The Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-4, in Game 1 of their American League division series at Target Field in Minneapolis.

C. C. Sabathia (1-0) got the win, giving up four runs, three of them earned, and five hits in six innings. But the early pitching star was the tough left-hander Francisco Liriano, the 2010 Comeback Player of the Year, who held the Yankees scoreless through five innings as the Twins took a 3-0 lead.

Liriano did not make it through the sixth, however, as the Yankees scored four runs, capped by Curtis Granderson’s two-run triple off the center-field wall, to make it 4-3. Sabathia could not hold the lead, and the Twins tied it, 4-4, in the bottom of the sixth on a walk, a double, and two more walks.

But in the top of the seventh, first baseman Mark Teixeira hit the decisive blow, a two-run home run just inside the right-field foul pole with Manager Joe Girardi yelling for the ball to stay fair from the dugout.

A parade of relievers kept the score at 6-4, and Mariano Rivera came on in the eighth inning for a four-out save. He got Denard Span to end the eighth with runners on second and third, then got the first two outs of the ninth.

With two out in the bottom of the ninth, Delmon Young hit a sinking line drive to right fielder Greg Golson, a defensive replacement for Nick Swisher. Golson made what appeared to be a terrific diving catch, and replays showed that he had, but the umpires ruled it was not a catch, and the Twins had an extra life. That brought up Jim Thome, the last player the Yankees want to face in that situation, but Thome popped out.

An incredible game, but most Twins-Yankees playoff games are. The Yankees have now won their last seven playoff games against the Twins, including the last three in the 2004 A.L.D.S. and all three in the 2009 A.L.D.S. The announcers tonight said the Twins had led in all seven of those games.

Eschewing today’s 24-hour news cycle, Sandomir sat down with Keith Hernandez, the Mets’ analyst on SNY and a former first baseman, 50 years later to discuss the play, in which Mickey Mantle avoided a game-ending double play and allowed the tying run to score. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Bill Mazeroski hit his famous home run to win the World Series for Pittsburgh. Without Mantle’s running play, there is no home run.

Why, for instance, didn’t Pirates first baseman Rocky Nelson, upon fielding Yogi Berra’s grounder, throw to second to start a double play that would have ended the game?

Why, after instead stepping on first for the second out, did Nelson try to tag Mantle for the third out instead of firing home to Hal Smith, the Pirates’ catcher, for a tag play on Gil McDougald? If he had thrown home, would McDougald have been safe or out? And what was Mantle doing so close to first base anyway? Why didn’t he immediately take off for second when Berra hit the ball on the ground?

In the final analysis, Hernandez told Sandomir that he would have done what Nelson did: step on first, then try to tag Mantle to end the game.

In “What’s a Jeter Worth?,” the columnist William C. Rhoden writes that shortstop Derek Jeter’s next contract will not be about batting average or production. It is about “what Jeter means to the Yankees brand, and the deep feeling between player and team.”

Rhoden writes:

The stoic Jeter must not come off as greedy or unreasonable. The Yankees must publicly keep talks with Jeter sweet and cordial.

What kind of outcome would you like to see? What would be fair to Jeter and to the Yankees? Do you see this as becoming a drawn-out affair, or an announcement with little fanfare? How long do you see Jeter playing with the Yankees?

Can lessons be learned or can comparisons be drawn between this negotiation and franchise decisions involving Bernie Williams, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Joe Torre?

C. C. Sabathia, the Yankees’ ace, is preparing to pitch in Game 1 of the American League division series, but against whom?

The American League East champion — either the Yankees or the Tampa Bay Rays — will play the Texas Rangers in one division series. The A.L. wild-card winner — the Yankees or the Rays — will play the Minnesota Twins, the A.L. Central champion, in the other.

The Yankees are a half-game behind Tampa Bay in the A.L. East, and on track to play Minnesota with four regular-season games remaining, one Wednesday night in Toronto and three in Boston.

Tampa Bay has five games remaining, one at home Wednesday night against Baltimore, then four at Kansas City.

Because the Rays won 10 of the 18 games in their season series with the Yankees, they own the tie breaker. In essence then, the Yankees are a game and a half behind in the A.L. East race and that much more likely to face Minnesota next week.

The Yankees were 4-2 against the Twins this season, all in May, losing two times to the right-hander Nick Blackburn (10-11). The Yankees were 2-1 at Target Field and 2-1 at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees were 4-4 against the Rangers this season, sweeping three games at the Stadium in April, and going 1-4 at Texas. The Yankees lost to Cliff Lee twice this season; on Sept. 12, 4-1, and on June 29, in a complete game when he was still with Seattle, 7-4.

The Rangers will most likely go with a three-man rotation: Lee (4-6 with Texas and 8-3 with Seattle), another left-hander, C. J. Wilson (14-8), and the right-hander Colby Lewis (12-13). Tommy Hunter (13-4) would most likely work from the bullpen.

Against the Twins, the Yankees would most likely face Francisco Liriano (14-9), Carl Pavano (17-11), Brian Duensing (10-3) and Blackburn.

History will be on the Yankees’ side against either opponent. In the late 1990s, the Rangers were a perennial playoff opponent and the Yankees beat them three times, in 1996, 1998 and 1999. Over all, the Yankees are 9-1 against Texas in the division series. In the 2000s, the Yankees saw a lot of the Twins, and beat them in 2003, 2004 and 2009, going 9-2 against them.

Measuring 7 feet across and 5 feet high across its bronze face and weighing 760 pounds, a monument/plaque hybrid honoring George Steinbrenner was unveiled Monday night in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium.

It is Memorial Park’s seventh monument and first to honor an owner.

What is striking is its size. With 35 square feet across its face, and looking like a wide-screen television, it dwarfs monuments to Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Manager Miller Huggins, which are 2 feet by 3 feet, or 6 square feet. (There is also a Sept. 11, 2001, monument.)

The Yankees’ captain, Derek Jeter, stated the obvious when he said: “It was big; probably how the Boss would have wanted it. The biggest one out there.”

Some fans are saying it matches the outsize ego and personality of Steinbrenner, who died July 13 at age 80, but wonder if it is to scale with his achievements and failures.

Jeter confirmed what replays showed: that after he squared to bunt and tried to spin away from an inside pitch by Chad Qualls, the ball struck the knob of his bat, not his elbow. Jeter reacted by wincing dramatically and cradling his elbow, and when he was awarded first base, he did not argue.

“Fortunately for us, it paid off at the time,” Jeter said. “But I would have been a bigger story if we would have won that game.”

The improvisation immediately paid off. First, there was no out on the play (the Rays fielded the batted ball and made the play at first, but it was unclear if it hit Jeter after it hit the bat, which would have made it a foul ball). Second, Curtis Granderson followed with a two-run home run, giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead.

“Wow, Derek is some actor,” the YES announcer Michael Kay said after seeing the replay.

The Yankees will dedicate a monument in honor of George Steinbrenner, their longtime principal owner, on Monday, Sept. 20, at Yankee Stadium, the owner’s family said in a statement on Tuesday.

The monument to Steinbrenner, who died July 13 at age 80, will take its place among the other tributes, plaques and retired numbers in Monument Park, beyond the center-field wall at Yankee Stadium.

The dedication will take place before a game against the Tampa Bay Rays that night.

The monument will “reflect the special connection, appreciation and responsibility that George felt for New York Yankees fans everywhere, as they were always uppermost in his mind,” the statement said.

In addition, the family said, there will be a tribute to Steinbrenner’s life in Tampa at the opening game of spring training in March 2011.

As Ben Shpigel observed in his account of the Yankees’ 9-5 victory over Detroit Wednesday night, “Hostility reigned from the first pitch Jeremy Bonderman threw.”

The pitch plunked Brett Gardner in the right leg, perhaps in retaliation for his slide into second base on a double play on Monday night that wound up putting Carlos Guillen on the disabled list.

Barton Silverman/The New York TimesThe Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera, who had hit two home runs in the game, was hit by a pitch in the eighth inning Wednesday night.

As Johnny Damon was widely quoted after the game: “If anyone over there thought it was a clean slide, then we have a different opinion on that. It’s part of baseball. But I thought the slide was dirty, and I’m sure a lot of those guys would agree.”

After Gardner was hit, the home plate umpire, Eric Cooper, warned both benches.

Cooper, however, did not throw anyone out, and Tigers Manager Jim Leyland was ejected for arguing that Gaudin should have been tossed.

As John Lowe writes in The Detroit Free Press: “The Internet buzzed with something he told Cooper after the Cabrera plunking that was picked up on the FSD telecast.” In essence, Leyland said: The Yankees are going to the playoffs, and the Tigers are not — somebody is going to get hurt.Read more…

Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesThe Reds’ Daryl Thompson defeated the Yankees in 2008 in his major league debut, but didn’t last in the big leagues.

As Ben Shpigel pointed out in his report about the Yankees’ 4-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night, the Yankees continued a troubling trend. They have now lost six straight games to pitchers making their major league debut, a streak that stretches to 2004. Here is what the neophytes did against the Yankees, and what they have done since.

2010

Josh Tomlin (Cleveland), July 27: Tomlin allowed one run and three hits in seven innings, handing C.C. Sabathia (13-3) his first loss since May 29, which was also to the Indians. He retired the first nine hitters he faced, and through six innings faced the minimum 18 batters. Since then — O.K., it has been less than a day — he has basked in the glow of a promising career stretching out before him. It was pretty cool that he didn’t allow Alex Rodriguez’s 600th home run, too.

Jake Arrieta (Baltimore), June 10: Arrieta allowed three runs in six innings to outduel A.J. Burnett, 4-3. He beat the Giants in his second start, 4-1, as well, but after nine starts he is 3-3 with a 5.40 earned run average.

TBS will honor George Steinbrenner next week by showing 10 “Seinfeld” episodes that featured a character in the guise of the Yankees’ longtime principal owner. The voice of the “Seinfeld” Steinbrenner belonged to Larry David, the show’s co-creator, and the back and flailing arms were the actor Lee Bear’s. The episodes will be shown Monday through Friday at 7 and 7:30 p.m., Eastern time.

The tribute will open with “The Opposite,” the fifth-season finale, in which George Costanza, played by Jason Alexander, lands a job with the Yankees. On Tuesday night, in “The Wink,” Steinbrenner lists all the people he fired. The tribute will end Friday with “The “Muffin Tops,” in which George is traded for chicken concessions at Yankee Stadium.

About

The New York Times reporters Tyler Kepner, Ben Shpigel, Jack Curry and Joe Lapointe, along with their Times colleagues, will bring baseball fans inside the run up to the 2008 baseball season with access, analysis and the latest updates from spring training.

About the Bloggers

Tyler Kepner

Tyler Kepner has covered the Yankees for The New York Times since 2002. He joined The Times in 2000 as the Mets beat writer. A native of Philadelphia and a graduate of Vanderbilt University, Kepner has also covered the Angels for the Riverside Press-Enterprise in California and the Mariners for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and their four children.

Ben Shpigel

Ben Shpigel has covered the Mets for The Times since 2005. Before then, he was a staff writer for the Dallas Morning News for two years. He also worked at The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., and for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Shpigel received a bachelor's degree in English and journalism from Emory University and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. He and his wife, Rebecca, live in Manhattan.

Jack Curry

Jack Curry has covered baseball for the The New
York Times for 18 seasons. Since 1998, he has served as the newspaper's national baseball writer. Before that, Curry covered the Yankees from 1991-1997. He was also the beat writer for the New Jersey Nets' 1990-1991 season and covered college basketball, college football and wrote for the Metro section. Born in Jersey City, N.J., Curry graduated from Fordham University. He and his wife, Pamela, live in New Jersey.

The Yankees are waiting to hear whether Curtis Granderson will accept their qualifying offer, and set their outfield for 2014, or test the market and send the Yankees chasing another free agent. Read more…